Maintaining Cleaning Equipment

by | Aug 14, 2019

Maintaining cleaning equipment is vital to any cleaning business owner. Well-cared for tools work better, clean faster and last longer. Kaivac designs state-of-the-art cleaning machines for simple, in-house maintenance so your equipment is always up and running at its peak.

Kaivac makes maintaining cleaning equipment easy with a few simple steps. Here’s how to keep you cleaning equipment, machines and tools working like new.

Culture of Clean

Develop a protocol for maintaining cleaning equipment and let employees know company expectations. Cleaning technicians work hard, but that’s no excuse for leaving tools, machines and other equipment dirty. Instruct staff to leave machines clean and ready for the next day. A checklist that outlines expectations and tasks will reinforce a culture of clean.

Make sure employees know they should:

  • Drain all solutions
  • Rinse and wipe hoses
  • Gather microfiber cloths for laundering

Instruct staff to also check all squeegee blades and wheels. If they are leaving behind watery streaks like an old car’s windshield wiper it’s time to replace them. Kaivac’s unique design makes this task easy.

  • Pull out old blade
  • Fit in new blade
  • Check that ribbed side faces out
  • Remove and replace wheel casings and brush heads with Philips head screw driver

Maintain Your Cleaning Machines for Longer Life

Kaivac’s state-of-the-art technology is designed for easy service. Here’s a checklist to make sure staff stays on top of maintenance.

Daily Tasks

Vacuum recovery tanks require daily service to keep their working suction at full capacity and to discourage bacteria growth and bad smells. Make sure staff knows they are expected to:

  • Remove fresh water with the vacuum recovery hose
  • Empty recovery tank through the dump hose
  • Remove vacuum lid and spray recovery tank with garden hose
  • Pay extra attention to float screen and float shut off
  • Reattach dump hose and leave vacuum lid off to air dry

Weekly Tasks

Maintaining cleaning equipment means lubricating moving components every week as they can get sticky over time. Spray a small amount of WD-40 or White Lithium Grease on pressure gun nozzles and chemical selectors to keep them in good working order. Set a specific weekday to get this done.

Seasonal Tasks

If you can’t store your No-Touch equipment indoors during freezing temperatures, be sure to winterize it before putting it away. Without proper winterization the pump system may become damaged and inoperable. Luckily winterizing is easy. If the weather is expected to freeze be sure staff knows to:

  • Pour half a gallon of window washing fluid into the water tank
  • Turn on pump system and pull the spray gun trigger
  • Stop when some window washing fluid comes out.

Your machine is now protected from cold weather damage.

Mechanical Service as Needed

Some cleaning tools, like autoscrubbers, are difficult to service, usually requiring a long and costly trip to the repair shop. Kaivac’s unique black box technology houses all of the equipment’s mechanical components in one small, removable compartment.

Servicing your black box is easy and convenient. Simply remove the compartment and swap in a working one. The boxes are designed for easy shipping via common carriers so you can always keep one working box on hand. This innovative technology allows maintenance workers to fix problems easily with almost no down-time.

Amy Milshtein covers design, facility management and business topics for a variety of trade publications and consumer magazines. Her work has won several awards, most recently a regional silver Azbee Award of Excellence.She lives in Portland, OR with her family and Clyde, a 15-lb tabby cat. Once an avid hiker, these days she finds herself on the less-challenging -but-still-exciting 'creaky knees' trails.
Amy Milshtein
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